Most executives agree that business innovation is critical to their success, yet only 6% of CEOs feel satisfied with their innovation performance. There are significant obstacles to implementing innovation, not the least of which are challenges related to implementing innovation through technology.
In this blog, we will talk about some of the hurdles to innovation in tech and how low-code platforms are changing the landscape of business innovation.
Why Are Businesses Unable To Innovate?
Business leaders often talk about innovation and consider it a powerful tool to grow. So the lack of innovation is not because there is no intent.
Clearly, there are several challenges involved in creating an innovative business. For example, the cost and time involved in creating new systems, lack of talent for the job, and the inertia of shaking up a working system often come in the way.
Let’s understand some of these challenges better.
Not Adopting Emerging Technologies
In an HBR study on the biggest challenges to innovation in 2018, not adopting emerging technologies was the sixth most important reason. Nearly 30% of the respondents considered it a key problem area.
But why is adopting new technology so difficult? Large businesses usually have entrenched legacy software already in place, and the “don’t fix what ain’t broken” syndrome often wreaks havoc on innovation.
Legacy applications often have custom modifications that are tailored perfectly for the company’s requirements. Moreover, there is trained staff already familiar with, and working on it, which is hard to retrain.
High Cost of Innovation
Another reason businesses fail to innovate is the cost-benefits equation. For example, building a new and simplified customer management process might significantly reduce complaints, but the immediate business benefit is hard to quantify.
On the other hand, building a new system from scratch has a very real and significant cost. Even if you decide to opt for an off-the-shelf solution, there will be costs involved in buying the software and then customizing it to the requirements of your business.
In other words, the benefits are intangible, but the costs are tangible. In such a scenario, companies often tend to consider the decision carefully, and often the decision is simply to let the current process continue.
Quality Tech Talent To Implement Innovation Is Hard To Find
The talent required to implement new and innovative solutions is becoming harder to find. In a recent Gartner survey of IT execs, 64% talked about the lack of talent as a significant impediment to implementing innovative technologies.
When talent is hard to find, it is harder to retain and significantly more expensive. Moreover, even pro-coders may find it hard to remain updated on the latest technologies; if so, training them still requires spending money.
Lack of Time
There is a lot of research that shows that tech teams are significantly overburdened right now. It is not just a lack of supply; there is pressure on the demand side since the requirement for new applications is growing exponentially.
In such a scenario, IT teams get backed up working on apps and solutions for business teams, and there is hardly any time left to work on new and innovative ideas.
Moreover, technical debt also rears its ugly head when IT teams start to build new applications under pressure. This further reduces the time available for tech teams to work on interesting ideas.
How Low Code/No Code Removes The Obstacles To Innovation
Low code and no code platforms have been growing significantly in recent years, and there are many reasons behind this. But one often overlooked reason is that these platforms can remove the obstacles that hinder innovation in companies.
For example, let’s start with the challenge of replacing legacy architecture. Companies often get bogged down in a cost-benefit analysis of replacing a working system with an untested solution that promises to streamline and enhance applications.
However, low-code platforms provide an easy way to retain your legacy infrastructure and applications while adding necessary enhancements.
Low-code platforms integrate existing data and business logic using a powerful network of APIs. They help create powerful customer interfaces on top of legacy infrastructure that offers a simple and uniform experience across web and mobile platforms.
Another place where low code platforms score is the cost involved in implementing new ideas. Instead of getting into a COTS vs. custom debate, low-code platforms use prebuilt modules that can be customized and integrated to suit your requirements at a fraction of the cost.
Even when low code is not helping build the innovative application directly, it is helping to reduce the burden on IT teams. Many user applications require simple solutions that can easily be developed even by novices through a drag-and-drop interface.
Low code automation reduces the backlog of IT teams, letting them focus on more value-added and innovative work. By providing prebuilt, extensively tested modules, it also helps reduce the possibility of technical debt.
Moreover, it increases the number of employees who can work on creating applications since even non-tech staff can easily learn to work on the drag-and-drop interfaces of low code platforms. Hence, it also helps with the tech talent shortage that we discussed earlier.
A Few Final Words
Low code platforms help reduce the time and cost involved in the mundane application development tasks of IT teams.
They also help reuse legacy applications so that business continuity does not get impacted because of innovation.
Moreover, they help reduce the shortage of tech talent by allowing even novice users to create simple interfaces and applications for their purpose.